On November 24, the Friends of the Orange County Public Library will host its first ever Hillsborough Local Author Book Fair! You can read more about the event here. Leading up, we’ll be posting short interviews with some of our author guests. Today we have Anna Jean Mayhew!
Tell us about your latest work.
My new novel, Tomorrow’s Bread, debuts March 26, 2019, at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. This is a synopsis of the plot:
In 1961, rumors of urban renewal fly through the black neighborhood of Brooklyn in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. When the bulldozers roll, a grandmother is forced from the home she’s lived in all her life. A minister stands by helpless as his wife’s coffin is exhumed in a cemetery condemned by the city. In this Jim Crow setting, the mother of a biracial boy must hide her love for his white father.
Two miles away, in upscale white Myers Park, a woman is drawn into the conflict despite her husband’s conviction that the redevelopment is vital for Charlotte.
Civic promises are broken, neighbors are torn apart, and century-old Brooklyn is demolished as city planners vie for the valuable acreage.
Langston Hughes wrote about urban renewal, saying in part:
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.
I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.
Who did you dedicate your first book to and why?
I’ve heard authors say that deciding who they would dedicate their book to was a real struggle. That was not so for me. For my first novel, The Dry Grass of August, the dedication was a no-brainer: my husband, Jean-Michel Margot, and my teacher of 30+ years, Laurel Goldman. In 2004, when I was still working as a free-lance medical editor, Jean-Michel said I should quit that work and finish my novel; he acknowledged that we’d have to tighten our belts to live on social security and his pension. I’ve since wondered how many more years it would have taken me if I’d continued my outside work. As a result of his suggestion, I finished the book in December 2005. As for Laurel Golden, who has nurtured me through two novels in the Thursday morning writing group she leads, there’s no question in my mind that I wouldn’t have written either book without her careful coaching, along with that of the wise writers in the group.
Come meet this author and over twenty more on November 24! To read more about Anna Jean Mayhew, visit her webpage.
